Tracking down snipers with smartphones

If you’re in the military, your smartphone may have just gotten smarter. Researchers have recently developed hardware and software that enables teams with Android smartphones to locate nearby snipers. Acoustic sensors have been developed and used by the military in the past, but this portable attachment hooks up to a smartphone and uses microphone sensors to triangulate a sniper’s location through muzzle blasts and shockwaves. Other sniper sensors have been developed, such as the helmet-mounted sensor back in 2007 that is the predecessor to this smartphone system. According to one source, the Army has plans to send soldiers to Afghanistan with smartphone technology that will allow them to communicate—even text—more effectively out in the field. As smartphones find their way into combat, this kind of technology shows great promise for the near future.

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